The indoor insect zapper is the best way of clearing the area around you of insects, especially the flying ones such as mosquitoes. The indoor insect zapper evaporates any insect from a mosquito to a gnat instantly on contact with a pleasingly loud, electrical ‘crack’!

However, this does not mean to say that the indoor bug zapper cannot be operated outdoors, as long as it is not raining. It should be treated like any other high voltage electrical equipment. Keep the electric insect zapper dry and please do not use it while you are standing in water!

Models vary greatly, but there are basically only two types of electric insect zapper: the battery operated bug zapper and the rechargeable electric bug killer. Both are equally effective at zapping bugs and work on the same principle.

The electric insect killer resembles a ‘kids’ tennis racquet, but with three layers of ’strings’, which are in fact wires. The central grid of wires becomes live at the touch of a button, while the other two grids, one on either side, are only earths.

When a bug is trapped between the wires of the indoor insect zapper, it creates a short, which evaporates it instantaneously with a loud crack. The electric insect zapper will zap other bugs too, but they just burn rather than explode.

I have been using the rechargeable type for five years and am extremely happy with the indoor bug zapper. In fact, the electric bug zapper has come a long way in the last few years. A fully charged indoor insect zapper is powerful enough to last for several hundred swipes and will hold it’s charge, when unused, for weeks without any appreciable discharge.

The rechargeable battery unit will take serious use for the best part of a year, although its capability to hold a charge for a few weeks slowly diminishes after six or seven months.

The latest indoor insect killer I’ve had has a main on/off switch, an LED that shines when it is activated (the brightness of this light also gives an indication of the battery’s strength) and an LED that comes on when the zapper is plugged in for recharge.

The instructions say that it should be (re)charged for sixteen hours. I usually put mine on charge over night once or twice every week or two, although the electric bug killer shows a marked increase in performance with only a couple of hours charging.

The latest model I’ve had also comes with a powerful light called a ‘headlamp’. I have found this very handy when out in the garden, but I’m unsure whether it’s supposed to lure the mosquitoes in the dark so that you can kill them if you’re feeling bored or just vindictive, rather like an Anglerfish.

I’ve used the headlamp on my electric insect killer for that reason as well, but the beam uses a lot of battery power. All in all, the indoor insect killer is a big asset to any outdoor event. The indoor insect zapper is useful for ‘clearing’ your bedroom before retiring; it’s unbeatable for killing evening mosquitoes and it will eradicate wasps at a lunch table too.

Have you ever used an indoor bug zapper? If you haven’t, or if you want to get an electronic insect killer, just click one of the links to our website or blog.